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Aeternus-Spero β Watercolor Iris Example
Published: 2009-01-09 19:43:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 2734; Favourites: 20; Downloads: 86
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Hmm...not exactly a tutorial, but more of an example that I made for my high school students when they started their botanical illustrations.I made an Iris Germanica for them, along with a bunch of squares of color painted in different styles, so that they could see what different techniques look like.
It's a really fun project to hone skill with. It's first sketched out on a piece of paper, then transferred to watercolor paper using the rubbed graphite technique. Then the lines are inked with India ink and colored with watercolors. Don't forget to add the scientific name in cursive!
P.S. Many high school students can't read or write cursive...it's pathetic.
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Comments: 25
Oh, and obligatory comment about cursive: here in Romania they only teach us to write in cursive, from day one. Of course people develop their own handwriting style in time, so by high school nobody really uses proper cursive anymore, but we never write in "print font" either. Our cursive capital letters seem to be quite different from yours, though.
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Interesting! It's so sad; over here, people usually end up writing in what some call "chicken scratching," which is comparing our letter-forms to the mad scrabblings of a chicken in a farmyard.
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Don't worry, not everyone has a pretty handwriting here either. We have plenty of chicken scratching as well
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Heh, it says "puddling," which is leaving puddles of paint on the paper to melt together.
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Ooh, ok then 
I really like your oil crayon results. I tried that as well but my watercolors seem to cover the oil crayon marks better than I expected.
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For this technique, it usually works best if 1) you press down really hard on the oil crayon before applying watercolor or 2) your oil crayon has a high percentage of waxy/oily binder material. Some oil crayons, like the higher quality ones, have less binder and more pigment, which is great, but sometimes the cheaper ones work best in this situation!
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How did you do the scratching? If I scratch on my painted watercolor-paper, I only ruin the paper.
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Well, generally I use a very sharp x-acto knife blade, or a needle or pin, very gently scratching through the layer of the paper that holds the paint, not the whole paper itself. It's also important to note that this was done on thick watercolor paper that's meant to take that kind of abuse. 
Hope it helps!
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Ahh,...thanks a lot for your detailed reply. This will definitely be of use. Maybe in one of my next watecolors.....there's so many things I have to try'. I need at least ten more years and about 5 hours more per day to try everything out.
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No problem! Keep at it; that's the great thing about art...so much to learn! As a teacher, I'm one of those types that knows a little about a lot. Good luck!
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Thanks! Yes, I know that I have to keep doing it. And I still have fun doing that. Today I made another crappy watercolor, but when I compare it to the ones I made a year ago, I see improvement. There's light at the horizon...LOL
My friend is also a teacher in drawing and crafts and she helps me out sometimes too!
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Excellent! That's the important thing, to practice. Set a goal for yourself; maybe 5 watercolor sketches and one more involved painting per month? If you set reachable goals for yourself, you'll improve much faster and be much more motivated.
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Difficult, but yeah, thatΒ΄s probably the least stressful way to go. I work fulltime and want to draw and paint a lot so itΒ΄s frustrating when you feel you donΒ΄t have enough time. I hate it when a drawing is going well and then itΒ΄s bedtime because you have to get up at 6 in the morning. Anyhow, IΒ΄ll keep practicing, although not as often as IΒ΄d like.
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I really love this iris! How did you get the lines so crisp without having smudgidge (I know, a new word!) problems?
But yes, the art of cursive is dying... I do mostly a cross between cursive and regular writing but most the time cursive... and it isnt' that a scientific name should be in cursive.. but it should be more so Italicized.. and if not italicized.. it has to be underlined...
..I'm a science geek.. :-p what can I say
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Heh, the lack of "smudgidge" is due to the usage of masking tape between the squares. Clever, no?
My writing is also a hybrid; but at least I can write cursive when I try!
I'm an art geek, what can I say...
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I was wondering if you used masking tape.. I've always thought about using masking tape.. it's one of those things we were never taught to use at the school I went to. The watercolor teacher I had was amazing. He just learned this last month that he has cancer throughout his body though and they're giving him 9 months.. 
I have seen some old botanical illustrations. I work at an art gallery and we have some of Emily Muir's botanical sketches which are phenomenal.. they were done in the early 1930s. I haven't seen the illustrations of the copper plate one though ... I might have to go search for some images..
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Bummer about the art prof...bet he makes it longer, though. Painters are tough.
Yeah; know much about printmaking? The drawing is done with a sharp instrument on a copper plate, which is inked and then rubbed so the excess is removed. Then they use that to print from. Anyway, I think that's the way botanical illustrations were traditionally made.
Coincidence: I love science almost as much as I love art. I think botany's my fave, though.
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Heh. I read once that only about 5% of the essays written for the ACT/SAT (do both of them have essays now?) were written in cursive handwriting. I don't remember how accurate that percentage is, but I know it was a VERY low number. And people were complaining that it meant high school students didn't know cursive handwriting. I'd just be afraid to turn in one with cursive and have stuff be misread! This is a cool idea, I may have to try it. I've got a bunch of sample watercolor paper that would find great use in this exercise.
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That's a good reason not to write in cursive! My own handwriting is a combination of script and print...otherwise known as "chicken scratch."
Do try it sometime! Start with a good reference photo, then make a drawing of it on sketch paper. Then, rub graphite (from a stick or pencil) onto the back, and transfer your lines by going over them again with a ballpoint pen or something. Then you won't have to worry about damaging the watercolor paper with erasing--such a pain.
Cheers!
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Well...I learned cursive in 4th grade, and haven't used it once past 6th grade. I think it's because a lot of teachers can't even get students to write legibly in print, and cursive would be a disaster!
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I guess that's true! I use it sometimes for addressing envelopes and such...and for artistic purposes.
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Great variation, I'll give you that.
Pretty posey too
BTW, the fact that they can't write cursive is lame, but not the reading.
A lot of people have really crappy cursive.
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Glad ya like! I had a lot of fun with it.
What do they teach in schools these days?!? *mutters something about whippersnappers*
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A whippin' and a snappin'
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